NEW DELHI – A 20-year-old youth was mauled to death by a white tiger inside the animal’s enclosure at the National Zoological Park on Tuesday. The boy has been identified as Maqsood. He was a resident of central Delhi’s Anand Parbat locality. While eyewitnesses claimed that Maqsood slipped into the enclosure while crossing the stand-off barrier surrounding it, the zoo authorities said he jumped into the enclosure despite being repeatedly warned by a guard.
A zoological park spokesperson said the incident took place at about 1 pm at beat number eight enclosure which houses a six-year-old white tiger named Vijay.
Chintu, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, said Maqsood lost his balance when he entered the tiger’s enclosure and fell into a moat, 20 feet below.
“The tiger walked towards Maqsood and stood in front of him. To divert tiger’s attention, people started hurling stones and branches at the animal. The tiger, however, attacked Maqsood,” said another eyewitness Shiv Kumar. The animal then dragged Maqsood away from the moat.
“We shouted for help, but security guards were not there. Some officials arrived after 10 minutes. But the youth was dead by then,” said an eyewitness Captain Sharda.
